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Frank William Boreham 1871-1959

A photo F W Boreham took of himself in 1911

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Boreham and His Literary Models Part 15: Thomas Carlyle

This is another article on the writers that shaped the literary style of F W Boreham. This posting looks at Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)[1]:

Passionate HistorianA further literary influence upon Boreham was Thomas Carlyle. This Scottish writer reinforced Boreham’s passion for history, not as a succession of events but “as a process shaping the contemporary world, and sometimes as a process in which it is thought that the individual forces at work, whether personal, national, or purely abstract, can be examined and interpreted”.[2]

Importance of HeroesBoreham’s numerous references to Carlyle indicated how his writing was inspired by Carlyle’s lifelong devotion to the study of history,[3] his encouragement to wonder[4] and his passion for hero-worship.[5]

Prophetic VoiceBoreham recognised Carlyle as “one of the mightiest moral forces of our time” and he admired the prophetic way in which Carlyle denounced all that was hollow and unreal.[6] Boreham described Carlyle as a “literary calamity” whose writing was “volcanic” and who gave to anyone reading him for the first time “the feeling that he is crossing a ploughed field in silk slippers”.[7] While Boreham did not attempt to imitate Carlyle’s style, he embraced many of his ideas and was challenged by Carlyle to consider how he might introduce a moral and prophetic dimension into his writing.

Geoff Pound

Image: Thomas Carlyle

[1] Thomas Carlyle was a celebrated essayist, historian and philosopher from Scotland. More information on Carlyle may be found in the Bloomsbury guide to English literature, 387-388.[2] Roger Sharrock, ‘Carlyle and the sense of history’, Essays and studies collected for the English Association, 19 (1966): 74.[3] F W Boreham, Faces in the fire (London: The Epworth Press, 1916), 42.[4] Boreham, Mercury, 17 October 1942; Age, 22 January 1949.[5] Boreham, When the swans fly high, 145.[6] Boreham, Mercury, 2 March 1935.[7] Boreham, Mercury, 2 March 1935.